“This is an amazing collection of poetry, essays, and prose that speaks to the triumphs, challenges, critiques, desires, histories, and power of BlaQueer – Black and Queer. Wilson skillfully weaves together a tapestry of realities across time and body to share a complex yet richly beautiful picture of life at this intersection of identities with the reader. Hopefully the first of many publications to come!”

“By dividing the work into poetry and prose, Tabias is able to effectively use several forms of writing to express not only his life story, but also the connections that many queer people, especially people of color in the margins, face. I especially felt emotionally connected to Wilson’s essays about his upbringing and life. I appreciated his honesty and also his mission to champion the resilience of queer POC and the challenges that seem unique to some, but are common place to many. “Godless Circumcisions” is both a work that personally touches lives and also bridges the voices for those who may feel like they are enduring in isolation. Highly recommend.“

“This is a true labour of love. What Wilson has created is a love song to himself that is so universal in its themes, yet intimate in its uniqueness to his journey. There were times I had to put Godless Circumcisions down because it was like someone was reading me. Other times I clutched it for dear life because it renewed some things within me. I look forward to Wilson’s next work, and I will continue to follow him closely.”

“The tea is, blackness is the essence of creation, a potpourri of the creative ingredients of existience.”

-Tabias Olajuawon in Godless Circumcisions

Black. Magic. We all know what it is. It is that cosmic power that hails from the ancestors and rebirths itself in those blessed with ample melanin, two-stepping through the funk of life.

This event–continuing the success of Boston’s April event—will showcase the Black Magic within us all, that (open) secret weapon we’ve long groomed, through the presentation of our truths, our power, our “us” via art, prose, poetry and power. We engage in a reading and discussion of Tabias Olajuawon’s book of essays, poetry and cultural critiques: Godless Circumcisions. There will also be a book signing for those interested in making a purchase.

“Godless Circumcisions: A Recollecting & Re-membering of Blackness, Queerness & Flows of Survivance” is a witty and forceful study of race, sex and politics in contemporary culture. Personal and poetic, these essays, poems and biographical trysts disrobe issues central to the black, queer and working class existences. Wilson speaks fluently—fluctuating between academic authority, queer griot and matter-of-fact honesty—to issues of racial-sexual terror; masculine anxiety; how Black men learn the erotic, sex and vulnerability; the stereotypes of Black and BlaQueer people in the United States. Paying special attention to the costs of assimilation—or cultural circumcisions—Wilson invites the reader on his personal and political journey to a practice of critical love ethics.

Tabias Olajuawon Wilson is a 26 year old writer, poet, motivational speaker and scholar-activist. Recognized in 2012 as one of the “Top 100 Emerging LGBTQ Leaders” by the White House Office of Public Engagement, his work focuses on the intersections and compounded effects of race, law, sexuality and gender in the United States. A zealous advocate for reproductive and sexual rights, he also speaks regularly about HIV criminalization, vulnerability, critical love ethics and access to power within and across racial formations. His blog, BlaQueerFlow: The Griots’ Pen, features writers, artists and poets across the Queer, Latinx and African Diaspora as they delve into a communal process of knowledge production through storytelling, poetry and ongoing racial-sexual commentary.

Godless Circumcisions has been received at Harvard Law, Tufts University, The Art of Life After, Spontaneous Celebrations, University of California at Berkeley, The QTPOC Conference, ConnectedBoston and Bus Boys & Poets among many others. Wilson’s other works have been published at Harvard, Duke University Press, the Critical Black Studies Reader, The Christian Science Monitor, MusedMagazine, TheBody.com and the HuffingtonPost.

Black Magic II: An Evening of Poetry, Prose & Power With Tabias Olajuawon was last modified: July 21st, 2016 by Tabias Olajuawon